Daily supplements of a patented tocotrienol (vitamin E) complex may increase hair growth in people with male pattern baldness by 42 per cent, suggests a new study from Carotech.

According to the American Medical Association, about 95 per cent of all cases of hair loss are due to male pattern baldness, a condition that affects about 40 million American men.

The balding is reported to start by the age of 30 in 25 per cent of men, and in two-thirds by the age of 60. According to the AMA, there is a 4 in 7 chance of inheriting the baldness gene.

The eight-month study included 28 volunteers aged between 18 and 59 with a hair loss problem for approximately two to five years. During the course of the study, instructions were given to not alter their hairstyle, hair care products (shampoo, conditioners, etc) or dye their hair.

Volunteers were randomly assigned to the palm tocotrienol complex (total tocotrienol intake of 100 mg) or the placebo (soft gelatin capsule containing 600 mg soy bean oil).

Hair counts, measured by the counting the number of hairs in a pre-selected 2x2 cm area, were found to significantly increase by an average of 41.8 per cent in the tocotrienol group, with eight volunteers experiencing greater than 50 per cent hair growth. In the placebo group, however, no statistically significant differences in the number of hairs were detected before or after the study period, and only one volunteer showed more than 20 per cent increase in hair count.

Adopted from an article By By Stephen Daniells, (28-Apr-2009), http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Vitamin-E-may-reverse-male-pattern-baldness-Study?nocount